Friday, April 24, 2009

Absinthe at l’Absinthe

April 24

Fox News and a Zen Buddhist temple are both on the same street as l'Absinthe, an old-school Upper East Side French restaurant that last night had a tasting of the liqueur after which the restaurant is named, the one that once was banned, ostensibly because of the thujone in the wormwood used to make it, but that was really hip among 19th Century Parisian artists and is now hip among hipster wannabes, but among some cool people as well. I imagine the restaurant gets more business from the network than the temple, although I couldn’t tell last night, when before the 9pm tasting I had dinner with two of L'Absinthe’s publicists.The restaurant was about half full, which isn’t bad.We spoke mostly of simple things, like reality television, although as more people arrived and the Absinthe tasting began the subject moved on to other things, although I’m not sure what, because I drank something like six Absinthes, administered by our able server, Steve Bucheli. I woke miraculously without a hangover.

What I ate and drank (besides Absinthe):2006 Newton ChardonnayGuacamole terrine with salmon tartare and poached lobsterduck foie gras seared with mango2005 Hautes-Côtes de Nuitspan-seared skate with pine nuts and capers, served with seared zucchini and confit tomato skinbraised chicken paillard with white wine and truffleApple tarte.

Twitter Updates

Twitter Updates

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Bret Thorn is senior food editor of Nation’s Restaurant News with responsibility for spotting and reporting on culinary trends. He joined the magazine in 1999 after spending about five years as a journalist in Thailand.

A graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., Thorn also studied French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He studied in China for a year, too, and now lives in Brooklyn.